Ahmed Sharif Mohamed is afraid that the ancient mudbrick house his family occupies in Burao could collapse at any time. His brother was killed on 25 May when heavy rain and winds caused the collapse of two neighbouring houses.

Whilst Ahmed and his wife and six children are now constantly afraid during the rainy season, he cannot afford to pay rent and has no other relatives to stay with in the area.

“I moved to this house in 2011. The circumstances led me to live here despite not having permission from the owners. We have been living here since then. We knew that this place isn’t suitable for habitation and had its risks,” Ahmed admitted.

It is estimated that there are about 150 such mudbrick houses in Labaqaw neighbourhood of Burao in Somaliland that were built by local people about 85 years ago during the colonial era.

Most families living in them now are destitute and pay no rent.

Ahmed and his brother migrated from Mogadishu in 1996 as civil war raged and started a tailoring business together in Burao. However, as their families grew they struggled to meet the demands and decided to move to the old mudbrick houses to save on rent.

The sewing machine and equipment they shared were also destroyed in his brother’s house. Ahmed is now struggling to get a single meal a day.

“I keep running back and forth to earn a living. I go to my friends and ask them to let me use their machines so I can sew clothes. I sewed one or two items but I don’t have a daily job. My children don’t get regular meals.

If we could, we would move out. It’s worse in the rainy season. The back wall has already collapsed. Our circumstances are forcing us to stay here as we don’t have anywhere else to go,” he said.

Layla Ali Mohamud, a mother of five, had already moved out of the other house that collapsed. She had lived there for eight years and her children were all born there.

She is now living with her sister in Ali Hussein IDP camp in Burao and heard that her house was destroyed in a rainstorm and her belongings left there were buried in the house.

“My husband doesn’t have a job and I don’t have money to rent a house. When it rains I was always scared that the house would collapse, so I used to take the children outside when it rained. We have moved to my sister’s house, but my belongings are still there,” she said.

Layla admitted she had ignored several warnings that the house was unsafe but as her husband was unemployed they could not afford to pay rent elsewhere.

Her sister is also impoverished and unable to support them, so Leyla is disturbed about their future.

“They [her sister’s family] don’t have much either and we live with them. I didn’t know where else to take my children. My children are young and close to each other in age,” she said.

An engineer in Burao, Mohamed Abdi Hassan, said residents should not stay inside these houses especially during windy periods as they are structurally unsound.

“I think there is a risk of harm to the people living there. These houses are very old and made with old building techniques using mudbricks. They have never been renovated either by the owners or the government,” he said.

Source: Radio Ergo